Ann: A week after writer/homeschooler Cynthia Walker writes an article (above) about how to homeschool in California using a private school or the R-4 affidavit, attendance officer Frank Valadez comes out with an intimidating letter to the editor, below.

Gilroy Dispatch Home school students must complyLetter to the Editor, Friday, May 27, 2005

Ann: Valadez uses legalistic and intimidating terminology like "must comply," "request an exemption," "approval," "attendance officer will authorize," "if the request for exemption cannot be approved," — well, you get the idea. He wants homeschoolers to think they need his office’s approval.

Plain and simple, Valadez is trying to scare homeschoolers. Before marching up to the Attendance Officer to "request an exemption" though, or marching into an attorney’s office to pony up some bucks for a saber-proof shield, Gilroy homeschoolers need to do their homework.

Yeah, California law is confusing but it is not that hard to figure out, especially when veteran homeschoolers have laid out explanations in simple straightforward terms that even I can understand.

10 responses to Fear-Mongering in California

Thanks for posting this. I tried to post in response to this article on the Gilroy online website, but it doesn’t show up. So, I emailed the editor. So far, no response. Here’s what I wrote:

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Dear editor,

The recent opinion written by Frank Valadez, GUSD attendance officer, is 90% false and needs to be pulled. It gives incorrect information and scares legally homeschooling families in Gilroy. Please pull the opinion and post a letter with the correct information on it.

I tried to post a comment on the opinions webpage, but it did not appear.

Sincerely,

Tammy Takahashi

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Many people have sent the letters to the editor on this. None have been posted.

I just got news from the CHN legal team that:

” CHN’s Legal Rights Committee is in the process of addressing this issue from

a professional standpoint. Stay tuned!”

Apparently, Frank Valadez has been in his position a very long time, causing trouble for *all* parents in Gilroy, even those in public school. What he said in his opinion is not surprising. One of the posters in the online discussion, who lives in Gilroy, said there is a long standing controversy over his practices, and my feeling is, that many homeschoolers in Gilroy who read that article will probably already know about him and his threats.

A CA bully, ay? We seem to have a good start on a systematic one in Illinois. I would like to see what all of the ROE’s in Illinois are dishing out to new homeschoolers. Good luck with the retirement of Mr. Valadez, CA homeschoolers.

About five minutes ago, HSC’s legal team posted a message to the e-list stating that they are also working on “informing” Mr. Valadez of the realities of homeschooling in CA. The homeschoolers in Gilroy are in good hands – HSC and CHN are both working hard to deal with this situation.

Let’s all cross our fingers for them that Mr. Valadez backs down and offers an official apology. (Ok, so I’m a dreamer. It can happen!)

I have learned that one of the families in Gilroy has hired a laywer who is very knowledgable of the CA homeschooling laws. I’m not exactly sure what the family has in mind, but they are using the lawyer to help the families in Gilroy. (It is unknown whether this is just a local lawyer, or an HSLDA lawyer, still trying to figure that out.)

Secondly, I just received a letter from the editor of the Gilroy newspaper, asking for my phone number and address as verification. I gave him my info and then asked if he’s retracted the opinion yet. I told him that having that information on the website is misleading and might scare Gilroy homeschooling families. I also told him that the CA homeschooling community is abuzz with concern for this situation. Perhaps it might incite him to run an article about the controversy, and show Mr. Valadez how united we are, if he hasn’t figured that out yet.

While I was writing that last comment, the editor of the Gilroy newspaper emailed me again, and told me that he is going to print my letter. He did not say that he is retracting the other. I assume that he is not.

I wonder how many letters he received, and how many letters he’ll be printing, in response to Mr. Valadez’s comments.

Let us know when your letter shows up, Tammy. I’ll bet the paper got a bunch of letters, and I hope they all get printed. I would like to see page after page of letters, both from Gilroy homeschoolers and from reps of statewide organizations. In my dreams again I suppose, since most papers cherry-pick letters to print.

Hi! I didn’t come across this thread till tonight, but HSC’s legal team mentioned on the HSC email list on May 29 that they will be monitoring the situation closely with the cooperation of the attorney and family, and that the legal team will step in on HSC’s behalf if further pressure is needed.